Birthday Babes

This past week we celebrated my mom’s birthday on Thursday and Mike’s on Friday. It is only fitting that their birthdays would be so close together since they are kindred spirits. I took a drive to see my mom Thursday night to celebrate and it was fun to eat and chat and just have some gal time. Mike’s birthday was great too. Except he also had a lot of speed bumps over the weekend. Poor fella.

On Thursday night, I got text from him as I was about to head back home “I just got a letter from the IRS saying I owe $4,000”. Mike, for those who don’t know, likes mischief. So my initial reaction was fairly tame since I thought he was trying to play a trick. As the flurry of texts began to come in from him, I soon realized he was not joking and that H&R block had made a big oops. I began to feel hot and panicky. Just the day before we had decided I would likely need to have a surgery that would cost who knows how much…but based on the fact that the doctor’s appointment alone cost me $400…it wasn’t looking good for our wallets. I didn’t want to upset Mike any more than he already was and I was hesitant to contact our parents since I did not feel calm, cool and collected but more like a shrieking pterodactyl (who knew there was a p in that word?). So I called my brother. As soon as he picked up the phone I turned into a blubbering mess and explained my feelings of panic. My brother is a really good person to talk to when one is feeling emotional because his affect doesn’t change much no matter how much you hoot and holler. You know when you are on the verge of tears and someone hugs you and it makes you break down faster? With my brother, it is somewhat the opposite in that you will feel fairly unstable if you continue to weep like a willow while he is calmly sitting on the other line. My tears immediately evaporated and we moved right on to the next order of business. If it sounds like I am dissing his approach, I am not. And in fact, it is what I needed in that moment. He is a straight shooter and quickly goes in to problem-solving mode which is sometimes what one needs. Anyways, I spent the whole ride home praying to have things work out…and on Saturday they did! Mike met with the tax people and they fixed their mistake.

On Mike’s ACTUAL birthday, I made surprise plans to take him to The Loeb Boathouse in Central Park. Last time we were in central park, Mike had referenced wanting to go there but not having been able to make reservations because it books up pretty far in advance. I squirreled that info away and reserved us a table for his birthday. After work on Friday I hopped on the train and planned to meet him like I did the last time, just a block or two away from Grand Central, so I couldn’t get too lost. Right before arriving at the station I got a text from him that something had gone wrong at work and he would be there for a while. I walked the same couple of blocks that I did last time and then went and waited inside the H&M that I had gone to last time. I wandered the store for about 20 minutes mustering up the courage to try and find my way to his work. I put the address in google maps but the little dot was bopping all over the map and clearly that wasn’t going to work. I had to use my spidey senses to make my way there. Just when I had determined I was very lost, I looked up and saw a sign he had pointed out once. Eureka! I found his building! I waited outside for an hour and a half until he emerged…smiling as always 🙂

We had an awesome dinner at the boathouse which for me, mainly consisted of carbs, followed by sugary carbs for dessert and then walked back through central park. On Sunday we returned for the bacon and beer festival. I had gotten him tickets in an attempt to try and do something new and unique (and what guy doesn’t like beer and bacon?). It was a blast but not our prettiest moment. It is probably for the best I don’t post the pictures from that day. Happy Birthday, Bud!